Peter Bailey

Faced with an incredible amount of university debt, extortionate rent costs and a highly competitive job market new professionals in tech have never had it harder. Thanks to a survey Mud has been conducting to find out how much freelance web designers and developers earn in the UK we can shed some light on another obstacle they must overcome – age.

Using the data Mud have published we were able to find out on average how much less younger people earn than older with the same amount of experience and skills. Those who are 20-24 years old working as a freelance front-end developer with 4-5 years experience earn around £140 less per day than those who are 30-34. That’s an extra £140 purely for being 10 years older.

Unsurprisingly gender also effects the amount someone earns. We can determine that female front-end developers earn around £16 less than men. The number of women surveyed however was very small so this figure is quite probably inaccurate. Mud do say though that the amount women earn has increased from the previous year.

While being a teenage developer I was able to meet some hugely talented young people and know that they’re often just as good or better than their elders and there is absolutely no reason why age should come into the equation. This is especially serious when 18.6% of the 18-24 year olds are already unable to find work and generally have bleak futures.

As many business owners were once handed free education and enjoyed a thriving economy they should feel obliged to offer at least a helping hand to the young people who aren’t as lucky and not burden them with more problems.

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